5 reasons to look forward to 2015

2014 has been an exciting year for tennis. We saw two new Grand Slam champions being crowned at the Australian Open and the U.S Open and we have seen a lot of other players make it big this year. There will be a lot of things to look forward to in 2015. There are a lot of records at stake and a lot of questions to be answered. With so many memorable things happening in 2014, fans can surely expect 2015 to be as exciting or even more exciting than this year. Lets have a look at the 5 reasons to look forward to 2015.

#1 Will the Big 3 continue to dominate?

The Big 3, i.e Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been dominating the men’s tennis circuit for a long time now. Despite having two new Grand Slam champions, the trio have had another great year with a lot of brilliant results. Nadal’s season lasted only till Wimbledon after which he was out for almost the rest of the season. With Nadal coming back in 2015, the big question is whether he will be able to reach top form again and will the three of them dominate for another year?

Djokovic will be looking to carry on his form from the ATP World Tour Finals into 2015 and he will also have a tough fight to retain his No.1 world ranking. He will also be looking to complete a Career slam at Roland Garros in 2015.

After having an exceptional season in 2014, Federer will be looking to continue on his brilliant run of form and pick up a Major in 2015. He will also be challenging Djokovic for the world no. 1 ranking.

Nadal will be coming back from an injury and it is difficult to say about how the Spaniard is going to fare in 2015. If he is able to keep his injuries away and get back to top form, we could see him lift a few trophies come next year.

#2 Rise of the youngsters

2014 has seen a lot of youngsters make a mark on the big stage. While none of them have really made a significant impact by winning a Major tournament, they are coming menacingly close to doing that, and it could well and surely happen in 2015. Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov have been really impressive in 2014 after having a lot of good results.

Raonic ended the year as World No. 8 and he was the youngest player at this year’s ATP World Tour Finals. Dimitrov has been impressive too. He reached the semifinals of Wimbledon where he battled hard against Novak Djokovic, but ended up losing to the eventual champion.

Nick Kyrgios, the 19 year old Australian surprised everyone after he knocked Rafael Nadal out of the Wimbledon Championships, and he will be looking to improve on his results in 2014 and make a mark on the big stage in 2015.

David Goffin was named as the Comeback player of the year in 2014. He ended 2013 ranked 110 in the world. After a brilliant season, he is now ranked 22 in the world. This youngster is the one to look out for next year.

Other youngsters to look out for include Borna Coric, the Nadal slayer at Basel and 16-year old Alexander Zverev.

#3 Wawrinka and Cilic\'s consistency

Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic surprised everybody by winning the Australian Open and U.S Open respectively. No one would have expected either of these two players to win a Grand Slam. But now, the big question is whether they will be able to go on and win more and be consistent with their results.

After winning the Australian Open in January this year, Wawrinka has not dropped out of the top 4 . He went on to win his first ever Masters title as well at Monte-Carlo where he defeated Roger Federer for the first time in his career. He performed exceptionally well at the Tour Finals as well where he reached the semifinals, but he squandered five match points against Federer before losing the match. He ended the season on a high after winning the Davis Cup with Switzerland. He will be looking to carry this form into 2015 and win more trophies.

Cilic had quite a few good results leading up to the U.S Open. He had an epic five- set encounter against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon where he ulitmately lost. He avenged all his losses at the U.S Open where he was absolutely brilliant, especially in the semifinals and the finals. Cilic’s form dropped after winning the U.S Open and he did not perform well at the Tour Finals as well. He will have to focus hard and regain his U.S Open form if he wants to be consistent and win more trophies in 2015.

#4 Return of injured players

Another big reason to look forward to the 2015 season is the return of the injured players. The biggest name on this list is surely the World no. 3 Rafael Nadal. Nadal has been out of action for a few months now. He is currently recovering after undergoing a surgery on his Appendix and a stem cell treatment. The 14 time Grand Slam winner will be looking to regain top form at the start of the year.

Another big return will be that of 2009 U.S Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro has been out of action since February this year. He is currently in rehabilition after undergoing a surgery in March. Like Nadal, he too will be looking to regain top form and get back to winning ways.

Another player who is looking to make a return in 2015 is Robin Soderling who has been out of action since the end of the 2012 season. He has missed out on all the action due to injuries and an illness. He has finally recovered and he said that he will be looking to return to top flight action in 2015.

#5 Roger Federer Vs Rafael Nadal : The story goes on...

The greatest rivalry would continue in 2015 and the debate about who is the greatest of all time would continue as well. Will this year see this question finally being answered once and for all without any debate? Its surely going to be exciting when both of them will play each other in 2015.

Roger Federer is currently on 17 Grand Slams leading the list of the most number of Grand Slams by a single player in the open era. Federer has had an amazing season on court in 2014 despite not winning any Grand Slams. He won four titles on the tour, including two Masters 1000 titles and won the Davis Cup for the first time with Switzerland.

Rafeal Nadal was having an amazing season until injuries got the better of him. He won a record ninth French Open title and also won the Madrid Masters after defeating Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the finals. He has finally recovered from all injuries and is a threat to his competition.

It is going to really exciting to see if either of these two legends lift a Grand Slam next year. If Federer does manage to win a Major next year, he would make it extremely hard for Nadal to catch up to him. If Nadal does manage to win a Slam, he will move into second position and would be just two slams away from Federer’s 17.

Who is going to be the better player in 2015? Lets wait and watch.